<\/p>\n
A Louisiana pinesnake is seen as it is released along with several of about 100 Louisiana pine snakes, which are a threatened species, in Kisatchie National Forest, La., Friday, May 5, 2023. (AP Photo\/Gerald Herbert)<\/p>\n
Gerald Herbert<\/p>\n
When it came time to release 14 captivity-bred yellow and brown Louisiana pinesakes into the Kistachie National Fores<\/a>t, it was important to find just the right spot.<\/p>\n The threatened constrictors needed an expanse of some 7,000 acres of longleaf pine forest with plenty of pocket gopher holes to thrive.<\/p>\n Researchers carried the pinesnakes to an ideal place under the tree canopy, recalled Lindsay Reeves, who attended several such releases in her role as a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental law group.<\/p>\n They put them down near a gopher hole or hollow stump. In a flash, every snake disappeared underground.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like they know this is where they\u2019re supposed to be,\u201d Reeves said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Destruction of the snake\u2019s longleaf pine forest habitat without mitigation would have historically been considered a violation of the federal Endangered Species Act, as the Louisiana pinesnake is threatened and one of the rarest snakes in the U.S. But a new interpretation of the landmark law is easing that rule.<\/p>\n Proponents argue the law has been applied too broadly, and the changes are needed to pave the way for economic and energy development. Environmental advocates argue that changing the rule could have far-reaching consequences for some of the country\u2019s rarest animals, including the pinesnake, whooping crane and gopher tortoise in Louisiana.<\/p>\n The act\u2019s core protections remain in place, administrators for the Interior Department assured in a news release over the summer: It still will protect listed wildlife from acts that \u201cdirectly injure or kill.\u201d But it will remove federal overreach with regulations that interfered with people\u2019s private property rights, the release said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis administration is committed to protecting wildlife using Gold Standard Science, the law and the tools Congress actually gave us,\u201d U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik said in the news release<\/a>. \u201cWe can protect species and respect communities at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service internal memo<\/a> went a step further in September and stated that the definition of \u201ctake\u201d of an endangered or threatened species would only apply to intentional acts.<\/p>\n Environmental advocates, including the Louisiana Wildlife Federation<\/a>, sued the government, aiming to get the changes reversed.<\/p>\n In the meantime, endangered species are at risk, said Steven Whitfield, director of terrestrial and wetlands conservation at the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we don\u2019t go back to the old definition of harm, we could lose more species,\u201d Whitfield said. \u201cDestruction happens much quicker than recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n Pinesnakes<\/p>\n For a species like the Louisiana pinesnake, habitat protection is critical, Whitfield said. The Audubon Zoo has released 58 pinesnakes into the wild over the course of about 30 years, according to its website.<\/p>\n The four-foot-long constrictors live in longleaf pine forests, a fire-dependent ecosystem that once dominated the Southeast but has been dramatically reduced. When the pinesnakes are released into the wild, researchers look for longleaf pine habitat that has been burned recently, to clear out underbrush and debris from the forest floor.<\/p>\n Only about 5.2 million acres of longleaf pine forest remain in the U.S., a fraction of the 90 million acres the forest historically occupied, according to The Nature Conservancy.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhen you talk about protecting a species, you need to be able to think about the habitat itself,\u201d said Mitch Reid, a regional executive director at the conservancy. \u201cIf the purpose of the [Endangered Species Act] is to prevent extinction, then we need to have a conversation about what all species need to survive and thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n Dozens of other endangered and threatened species rely on longleaf pine forest habitat, too.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re so interconnected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Biologists from the Memphis Zoo hold several Louisiana pinesnakes to demonstrate their color variations, during the release of several of about 100 of the snakes, which are a threatened species, in Kisatchie National Forest, La., Friday, May 5, 2023. (AP Photo\/Gerald Herbert)<\/p>\n Gerald Herbert<\/p>\n Development accountability<\/p>\n The new interpretation of endangered species regulations could make it harder to hold companies accountable for injuring species or destroying habitat, Whitfield said.<\/p>\n Under the Endangered Species Act<\/a>, the federal government prohibits \u201ctaking\u201d endangered and threatened species. \u201cTake\u201d refers to 10 actions: harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect, or attempting any of those actions.<\/p>\n For many years, \u201ctake\u201d applied to both intentional and unintentional acts. But federal agencies now only consider \u201ctake\u201d when it\u2019s intentional, according to an internal memo obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity.<\/p>\n The U.S. Department of the Interior, which houses the fish and wildlife service, confirmed to news outlets that the memo reflects its new policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Service remains committed to faithfully carrying out the ESA, providing regulatory clarity and certainty while conserving and recovering threatened and endangered species in accordance with the law,\u201d the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told The Times-Picayune in an email.<\/p>\n Local environmentalists will be watching to ensure compliance with the two dozen economic project planned or underway in the state, including the $100 billion SpaceX development<\/a> in southwest Louisiana and $50 billion Meta data center<\/a> in Richland Parish.<\/p>\n A precarious population of whooping cranes lives just across from the forthcoming SpaceX development in Vermilion Parish.<\/p>\n One of the most iconic endangered species in the country, the crane was almost driven to extinction because its feathers were so desirable. The cranes are still exceedingly rare today: the Audubon institute estimates there are just 834 in existence.<\/a><\/p>\n The Audubon Zoo was the first place in the U.S. where whooping cranes were tended to by humans in the 1940s, Whitfield said. Today, the white birds are bred at the Audubon\u2019s species survival center in Lower Coast Algiers and released in southwestern Louisiana.<\/p>\n The zoo says the goal is to create a self-sustaining whooping crane population in the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area in Vermilion Parish.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n